long enough to find purchase in the thick vein I knew ran all the way down the inside of my thigh.
Draven folded my skirt back, revealing the simple black panties I was wearing underneath. The air felt cool against the furnace between my legs and I sucked in a breath. His hands came around my upper thigh, his pinky finger grazing the soft fabric of my panties where he held my leg in place. “Try not to move too much,” he whispered against my skin, making gooseflesh rise all down my body.
His mouth opened wide and for a fleeting instant, I saw in him the monster everyone thought he was. I saw the Draven people feared. I gasped and his fangs pierced my flesh. My hands gripped the armrests as though they were the only steady things in a spinning world. There was pain, yes, but it was momentary and completely overshadowed by the immense pleasure radiating out through my limbs, setting my blood on fire.
I moaned, moving my hand to gather a fist of Draven’s dark hair, holding him tightly to me. I never wanted this feeling to end. I moaned again, louder, and he suckled harder, more greedily, making the pleasure increase, bringing it to a head.
More, more, more.
I wanted him. Even if it was only the effect of his venom, at that moment, I was drunk on Draven and couldn’t fathom letting him stop, my body squirming and back arching at the feeling of total ecstasy filling me to a point near bursting. “Draven,” I whispered, his name a plea on my lips.
Distantly, I registered that I was growing faint, but it seemed such a small problem, unworthy of a moment's worry.
“Draven.” This time my voice was near breaking. His hand moved from where it was holding my leg in place to brush against the fabric of my panties, wet from my arousal. He bit down again, harder, and I winced, the pain momentarily overshadowing the pleasure and his fingers pressed lightly against me.
I wanted more, wanted release, his fingers were right there. Just a little more pressure, a few easy strokes—
But the wince and whimper that accompanied his touch seemed to have broken some sort of spell. Draven had his fangs removed and was halfway across the room in less than a second, his lips stained bright, ruby red with my blood.
I couldn’t catch my breath. My body ached, but not from the pain of his bite or the blood loss. No. It ached and burned, wanting still what Draven didn’t give it. A release.
And fuck if I didn’t hate him at that moment, leaving me like this, drained and wanting. A heap of vibrating need. My breaths shuddered and my body flushed.
I saw the same pain in his gaze, that same hunger mirrored in his eyes. But it seemed I was right—Draven could control his most primal urges.
What I didn’t expect, though, was that I would be disappointed about it.
“I should get to class.” I called on my magic to heal what it could, to replace the blood that was lost and instill clarity in the hazy storm of my mind. I would have to grow those lady balls and tell Cal and Adrian about Cyprian and my dark heritage another time. I was going to need an ice-cold shower if I was going to get through the day after that.
29
Draven
A pair of golden eyes glared at me from one side. On the other, glowing green eyes. I couldn’t be entirely sure that either of them had blinked in the past hour since they’d returned from their run.
If it was awkward then, when I was still riding high on the taste of Harper’s blood and trying to calm the raging storm that was my libido, it certainly hadn’t gotten any better since.
“You still smell like her,” Adrian growled. “Go take another shower.”
“I’m not taking another shower.” My hair was still damp from the first one they’d made me take as soon as they got back. And since Adrian had just finished one shortly before they left, there was no hot water, which was probably for the best anyhow. “Her blood is in me, and a shower isn’t going to wash that away.”
They both bared their teeth simultaneously and I restrained the urge to throttle them. I smelled her scent on them as much as myself, even through the odor of their wolves. But I was older, more mature. Compared to me, they were kids, more